Great Cataclysm
An enigmatic event that occured at some point before 30,500 BCE, most likely around 40,000 BCE. The Cataclysm is thought to have been a period of intense seismic and volcanic activity that caused the break up of the original supercontinent of Aerin in a few short centuries. According to the few surviving texts and the oral accounts and Terelain mythology, the period was also characterised by famines, floods, droughts, earthquakes, plagues and pestilences which strained the ancient civilisations of Aerin. Although the exact order of events and length of the period are unknown, Terelain historians have split the Cataclysm into three periods: The Fallen States Period This was the period in which the first disasters befell the so-called Elder Races of Aerin. At this time the Gloru Salai, or Grand Alliance, degraded to the point were the allied nations of the Elder Races could not support one another during the upheavals and, one by one, the Seven Elder Races fell. At this point fragments of text become incredibly rare, though surviving records show that the first races to fall were the nations surrounding the Northguard and Dragonholme mountain ranges. Though the Dragonholme Mountains still exist, no one has been able to ascertain where the Northguard Mountains actually where. At this point at least two of the Elder Races were rendered extinct. The Time of Madness National cohesion collapses entirely and the Aerain Nations degrade into collections of rapidly declining, feuding city states. The technologies of the Elder Races begin to breakdown. The fabled Floating Cities of Irien fall and the Cities of the Northguard Peaks are abandoned, leaving empty ruins at the pinnacle of the mountains. The Ikari Civilisation on Aerin collapses entirely. Late in this period the last remaining Ikari gather in Ikara City and vanish from the face of Aerin, supposedly raising their 'Sanctuary City' into the sky on 'wings of light'. The Fae Kingdoms are also lost at this time, their great cities swallowed by what would later be called the Aeledruin Jungle of Luindael, the Southern Continent. The Scattering Period The last of the great cities of the First Kingdom are abandoned and their inhabitants 'scatter' into the wilderness. This marks the end of the First Kingdom and the Last Nation of the Elder Races. This is also known as the Age of Ignorance as at this point Aerain Civilisation has been reduced to warring bands of survivors. Sometime during this period a mass migration occurs in which the surviving Terelains attempt to reach their ancestral lands within the Renala Mountains, many of the subcultures within Terelian and the independent Terelain nations they conquered have their origins in this period. The Scattering ends with an event known as The Restoration in which the First Terelain, Terel, was said to have appeared at Oberoth to summon his 'children' home to rebuild. By the time of The Restoration, around 30,500 BCE, the Five Continents of Aerin had assumed their current positions and the modern or 'younger' races of Aerin, the Isthenir, Gillorians and Nymphs had arisen. Of the original Elder Races, two had gone completely extinct, the Ikari had vanished and are assumed to be extinct, the Fae are assumed extinct (though persistent rumours and myths surrounding the jungles of Luindael suggest at least some survive there to this day) and finally evidence suggests that the Cerendiel race managed to survive in their city of Si-Ceriuen on the southeastern coast of Eirin, the Eastern Continent, up until around 17400 BCE (the middle of the Fourth Age) Category:Events Category:G Category:Canon